LSAT 134 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q14

RC Question 14 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The author of passage A thinks that evolutionary psychology is correct (lines 1-2 even say that it has “taught us”). The author of passage B think evolutionary psychology hasn’t proven its case. Lines 35-36 call it a “conspiracy theory”, which is not usually language you use for a theory you like.

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1. Neither author mentions the “logical implications” of evolutionary psychology. The first author uses evolutionary psychology to explain a situation, and the second author criticizes evolutionary psychology.
2. CORRECT. The author of passage A accepts evolutionary psychology as a correct theory, and he uses it to explain altruism. The author of passage B calls evolutionary psychology a “conspiracy theory” (lines 1-2). He doesn’t sound very committed to evolutionary psychology’s principles.
3. The opposite is true. The author of passage A gives us an evolutionary explanation for altruism, while the author of passage B ridicules evolutionary psychology as a conspiracy theory.
4. Careful. The author of passage B is skeptical of evolutionary psychology. That’s different from evolutionary theory, which refers to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.
5. The author of passage B thinks that evolutionary psychology is dumb, but he doesn’t attack the motives of evolutionary psychologists. He ridicules the theory by calling it a conspiracy theory, but he’s referring to the fact that we can never prove that genes did or did not cause our actions.